Norwalk native appearing in PBS series "Inside Nature's Giants"

By LESLIE LAKE Hour Staff Writer

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, January 28, 2012

NORWALK -- When Dr. Joy Gaylinn Reidenberg recalled her induction from comparative anatomist and professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, to traveling around the world with television crews filming her animal dissections in the award-winning PBS series "Inside Nature's Giants," she described it as a funny story.

"I was sitting in my office on a Friday afternoon at the beginning of a holiday weekend, and the phone rang. It was a colleague from Scotland who asked me if I'd be interested in coming to Ireland to dissect a stranded fin whale," said Reidenberg. "I said I would, and when I asked when, his answer was tonight."

After a mad rush home from Manhattan to get her passport and "go to bag" filled with knives, waders, and gloves, and a plane ride later, Reidenberg found herself on a rainy beach in Ireland with camera crews close by.

Norwalk native Reidenberg plays an integral part of a team of scientists featured in the PBS series, "Inside Nature's Giants," an in-depth look at the anatomy and evolutionary adaptations of some of the world's largest creatures.

"The fin whale episode is not airing on PBS yet, but it was the first animal we dissected. It was filmed before the film crew even know what the series would be like, as they hadn't started the details of planning for the episodes at that point. When they heard of a fin wale stranding, they realized that if they're going to do a series on giants they really needed to dissect a whale," said Reidenberg. "A whale stranding, particularly a fresh carcass, is a rarity over there, so this was a golden opportunity. When I arrived in Ireland, no one really knew what they were doing or how they were going to approach filming a dissection. Therefore, they took their lead from me leading the dissection, and that became the model for the other episodes. Maybe it was my ability to negotiate access to he whale, maybe it was my energetic approach to demonstrating anatomy, maybe it was my willingness to get messy,or maybe it was my ability to explain things in simple terms for a lay audience, whatever the reason, they invited me back to be a regular in the series after that experience."

The full eighteen episode series "Inside Nature's Giants," aired in the U.K. last year.

"The series won a BAFTA (British Academy Film and Television Award) in the U.K., which is the equivalent of an Emmy here," said Reidenberg. "I'm anxious to expose the American public to how fascinating anatomy and evolution is."

In addition to the whale dissection, Reidenberg goes eye to eye with a great white shark in a cage encounter in South Africa, examines and dissects a beached sperm whale in England, dissects a lion and tiger in South Africa and discovers clues as to how these animals adapt to environmental extremes, and explores the anatomy of a Burmese Python in the Florida Everglades, exploring the anatomy that allows pythons to sense, strike, squeeze and swallow their prey.

"Dissecting an animal is like opening a present," she said. "When an animal dies, it's sad, but let's not waste it. Let's recycle that animal to learn something. Like opening a present, I can't wait to get the wrapper off.

"I've done dissections all over the world," said Reidenberg. "I think one component that makes me stand out is that there are not a lot of women doing this type of research. It's very demanding physically."

And her message for the squeamish?

"If you can gut a fish and cut up a chicken, you can watch these shows," she said.

Looking at the structures of the body in animals and how they adapt in extreme environments is the focus of the series, with 4 episodes appearing on PBS

In one episode, the team exposes the organs of a sperm whale that became stranded and died on Pegwell Bay in Kent, England to reveal the secrets of the 45-foot deep-sea giant.

"Very little is known about the sperm whale because it normally lives hidden deep beneath the waves. We examine how the whales can survive diving down thousands of feet for more than an hour on one gulp of air in conditions that would freeze our blood and crush our bone," said Reidenberg. "We found that sperm whales adapt to deep diving and the associated pressure by a rib cage that collapses inward. a folding rib cage."

"The medical applications for humans would be regarding how humans adapt to pressure and have implications for space, ocean, soldiers and construction workers," she said. "After all, an explosion is a pressure wave."

Some of the sequences were shot at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

"The show showcases what makes individual animals unique, there are some anatomical graphics, experiments, and we put humans into the equation, showing humans in similar circumstances," Reidenberg said. "We sometimes relate back our human limitations.

What do humans do better?

"For example in the big cats, lions and tigers roar. Humans because of the position of the larynx, the voice box, which is lower than in animals we have a wide range of sounds for speech," she said. "We are able to use vowels, and consonents because of our mobil lips an tongue.'

" I discover things at the same time as the viewer so there is an element of surprise. The viewer is watching me figure out what things are," Reidenberg said.

Dr. Joy Gaylinn Reidenberg, a native of Norwalk and daughter of Ira and Marlene Gaylinn who still live in Norwalk, received her PhD. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1983 and is a Professor of Anatomy there.

Great White Shark premieres on February 1, 2012, on PBS.

Big Cats premieres on February 8, 2012 on PBS.

(check local listings)

Monster Python premiered on January 26, 2012 and can be found at www.pbs.org.

The final two episodes, Giant Squid and Camel, premiere in summer, 2012.